CAGW Releases Statement on 2014 GAO Duplication Report

April 08, 2014 03:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) expressed support for
the recommendations made in the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO)
fourth annual report on duplicative federal programs, which was
published this morning. The report,
“Additional Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and
Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits,” also announced it
will be updating its searchable website, Action
Tracker, which will provide the implementation status of each
recommendation made in all four reports. GAO found that federal budget
information is often unavailable or too inefficient to identify the
level of funding provided to programs, often making it difficult to even
assess or address potential duplication. Since 2011, GAO has identified
188 areas and approximately 440 actions that touch virtually all federal
departments and agencies.

GAO found 11 agencies that spend more than $1.2 billion on autism
research. In fact, of the more than 1,000 autism research projects
funded by federal agencies between fiscal years 2008 to 2012, 84 percent
were found to be duplicative. The report identified 12 dedicated
satellite control networks operated by the Department of Defense (DOD)
with 10 different satellite programs located at one Air Force base
alone, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The GAO also uncovered
117,000 individuals that received concurrent cash benefit payments from
unemployment and disability insurance in FY 2010, totaling more than
$850 million.

In regard to potential cost savings, GAO recommended that Congress pass
two bipartisan bills, The
Let Me Google That For You Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.), and The
Taxpayers Right to Know Act, introduced by Rep. James Lankford
(R-Okla.) and passed in the House on February 25, 2014. A Senate version
of the bill, S. 2113, was also introduced by Sen. Coburn. Previously
endorsed by CCAGW, The Taxpayers Right to Know Act would require federal
agencies to provide taxpayers with an annual report card for each of its
programs and disclose overlap and performance measures. The GAO report
identifies 26 areas of “fragmentation, overlap, and duplication,” and
presents a total of 45 opportunities for the executive branch agencies
and Congress to take actions to reduce the cost of government operations
and enhance revenue collections for the Treasury across 15 areas of
government. Many of the areas GAO targeted are also of concern to CAGW,
including the disposition of federal real property, improper payments in
the Social Security Disability Insurance program, as well as the
Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) online taxpayer services, which, if
enhanced, could save hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Reducing and eliminating duplication and overlap throughout federal
agencies and departments can only occur with leadership from executive
branch officials and continued oversight by Congress,” said CAGW
President Tom Schatz. “GAO continues to do taxpayers a great service by
identifying practical, achievable goals that will increase government
transparency and cut down on the number of duplicative, fragmented, and
wasteful government programs. Hopefully, such recommendations will spur
Washington lawmakers to reign in their wasteful spending habits.”